The men who wrote the Constitution of the United States knew that we
human beings have a tendency to 'not get along with each other'. They knew
that if power accrued into the hands of an elite the experiment of
democracy (power spread out into the realm of the people) would be over.
So they created a system of checks and balances which blocked access to
any one person, or any one special interest or elite gaining too much
power over others. Thus our executive, legislative and judicial branches
of government "checked" each other. The media was yet another
"check" on the accrual of too much power as was the Bill of
Rights which was written into the Constitution. The system wasn't perfect
but it kept alive the possibility of true democracy. It kept alive the
dream that one day "we the people" could live in a peaceful
commonwealth where every person has what they need to survive and thrive.

That dream died in December 2000 when the checks and balances of our
Constitution collapsed and George Bush was inserted into the Presidency of
the nited States. September 11, 2001 furthered the atrophying of democracy
handing the country into the hands of an emerging Corporate (and I say
Christian) Fascism.

Since that time we have witnessed and have been unable to prevent the
emergence of an Imperial Presidency that has the unrestricted power to
declare war against any country he chooses. The Imperial Presidency has
brought to an end the Constitutional mandate that 'ONLY CONGRESS' has the
authority to declare war. It has furthered weakened international law and
has undermined the potential of the United Nations to spread democracy
throughout the earth.

The President has also gained unrestricted power to round up unlimited
numbers of American citizens and incarcerate them in military brigs or
concentration camps for the rest of their lives. He can keep them from
ever again communicating with friends, families, and attorneys, simply on
the president's certification that

the incarcerated are "terrorists," as he has done with Jose

Padilla and Yaser Esam Hamdi. The President may also now kill American
citizens abroad solely on the basis of his certification that the one
killed is a "terrorist". Just ask the family and friends of
Ahmed Hijazi, anAmerican killed with a U.S.-fired missile in Yemen.
Therefore suspending the Constitutional right: "no person shall be
denied life, liberty or property without due process of law."

Ominous signs are all around us concerning the accrual of power into the
hands of the Presidency. If Mr. Bush stays in office I think our future
will continue to witness shrinking political rights, financial collapse
and endless war. Part of the power and seduction of this administration
emerges from its diabolical manipulation of Christian rhetoric. I want to
flesh out the ideology of the Christian Fascism that Mr. Bush articulates.
It is a form of Christianity that is the mirror opposite of what Jesus
embodied. It is, indeed, the materialization of the spirit of antichrist:
a perversion of Christian faith and practice.

This country, like it or not, is overwhelmingly dominated by the ideology
of the Christian story. It is not so much that our founders were all
Christians. Rather, they lived in an atmosphere scented throughout by
Christian thought and rhetoric. Just as most of us can't imagine how to
keep things cold without refrigeration; so too our founders couldn't help
but think through the lens of the Christian story. And what they saw was
that America had become the New Israel (the new Promised Land) of God.
America has understood itself as a benevolent nation seeking only the good
of all. We have understand our wealth as a blessing given to us as a sign
that we are a "chosen, special people" whose larger meaning is
to help the world into an era of peace, prosperity and justice. Every
politician draws on this "civil religion story" which gives
authority to the politicians ambition and agenda. Another way of saying
this is: every nation needs sacred legitimation. It needs the authority of
transcendence: of a story larger than itself . a story that connects past
with present and future. An Empire needs an even broader story: one that
connects with cosmic and/or historical redemption and new creation.

Martin Luther King understood this sacred American civil religion and was
able to wed it brilliantly with the prophetic religious teachings of the
Bible. He drew upon Biblical narratives which limited the power and
authority of the elite while calling for economic redistribution of
wealth. He drew upon teachings rooted in the personal morality of
nonviolence and compassion. George Bush, on the other hand, also
understands this sacred American 'civic gospel' and has brilliantly merged
it with Biblical Holiness and Holy War traditions. These traditions call
for the emergence of the Righteous Warrior who will cleanse the land of
its impurity. These traditions are rooted in the personal morality of
righteous zeal and obedience.

For example:

1.. Mr. Bush consistently sends signals to his right wing religious base.
In last year's State of the Union he exhorted: "there's power, wonder
working power, in the goodness and idealism and faith of the American
people". It's a phrase from a well known Communion hymn "there's
power, wonder working power in the blood of the lamb". Bush brings
together the holiness zeal of Christian evangelicalism with patriotic
fundamentalism. The core belief system of this 'civic gospel' goes
something like this: The United States was founded as a Christian nation
with free enterprise as the only economic system truly compatible with
Christian beliefs. These religious values are today under attack in
America. The danger is that without faith in God America will lose its
blessing. Therefore, the government needs to act to protect the nation's
religious heritage.

2.. Mr. Bush's teachings on terrorism: "you are with us or against
us" cements for the hearer the apocalyptic world of good versus evil.
There can be no neutral ground. You have to make a decision. Patriotism is
now all or nothing: it is either total agreement or a slippery slope
towards treason. In the Church you come to Jesus alone for salvation. In
the state you obey the God-annointed leader and are thereby secured.
Renana Brooks writes (The Nation June 24, 2003: Bush Dominates A Nation of
Victims):

"Bush is a master at inducing learned helplessness in the electorate.
He uses pessimistic language that creates fear and disables people from
feeling they can solve their problems. In his September 20, 2001 speech to
Congress on the 9/11 attacks, he chose to increase people's sense of
vulnerability: 'Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy
campaign, unlike any other we have ever seen. . I ask you to live your
lives, and hug your children. I know many citizens have fears tonight . Be
calm and resolute, even in the face of a continuing threat.' (Subsequent
terror alerts .. have maintained and expanded this fear of unknown,
sinister enemies.)"

The terror threat itself can only be combated with increases in military
force, domestic security and curtailment of civil rights through Patriot
Acts. There are no other options nor any dialogue or debate that would
create an alternative way to deal with terrorism.

3.) Mr. Bush certainly sees himself as a Messiah figure. Listen to his
language after 9-11: " I will not forget this wound to our country or
those who inflicted it. I will not yield; I will not rest; I will not
relent in waging this struggle for freedom and security for the American
people." Or, in his 2003 State of the Union speech: "I will
defend the freedom and security of the American people". He has
become the nation. He is its embodiment. According to Palestinian Prime
Minister Mahmoud Abbas, - Bush told him: "God told me to strike at al
Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam,
which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle
East. If you help me I will act, and if not, the elections will come and I
will have to focus on them." This is Biblical language . it isn't
political script. This is Bush's soul language. He understands himself as
a man with a Divine mission. It also means that for him leadership is not
"representing the people" rather leadership means transcending
the will of the people. George Bush already knows the truth before the
evidence is presented. He is guided by God and must blaze the trial even
if the people are reluctant.

Iraq, for example, was a necessary war whether or not Saddam had nukes.
Saddam, for Bush, was a bad guy who tried to kill "my dad". The
war, for Bush, was holy and justified and necessary. Purging evil is
necessary in the Holiness/Holy War tradition of the Bible. The righteous
will purge evil but the unrighteous will be consumed by it. Think of an
alcoholic: it's all or nothing. The whole world is all or nothing.

Like all religions the Bible has various narratives within its pages:
Jesus drew on the prophetic traditions that called upon the people to
change their way of life even as it critiqued and called upon the elites
to decentralize their power. Jesus himself role modeled a lifestyle of
service. Mr. Bush, on the other hand, draws on traditions that call for
purity and cleansing. It is a language of hostility towards enemies and a
strident call for obedience. It calls forth a lifestyle of the RIGHTEOUS
ONE who will purge evil from the world through sacred violence.

All of this is not to say that the political world is of less importance.
We know that the planning for the Iraq war was at least a decade in
preparation. We know that America has had imperial designs and has
intervened militarily throughout the world. And we've known for 25 years
that Corporations have been savagely reducing labor rights while looting
the treasury. We know that Mr. Bush is not the cause of our problems.
Rather, the point I am making is that Mr. Bush is a sincere front man for
an emerging fascism. His religious rhetoric is an authentic merging of
Holiness Christianity with Imperial Americanism. The emphasis on security,
law and order is necessary to maintain the "high calling" of the
American people. The policies of fascism, in other words, are consistent
with religious holiness and holy war narratives. And fascism, woven
underneath Christian Holiness/Holy War traditions, is a powerful symbolic
narrative that speaks to the American people as evidenced by Mr. Bush's
58% approval rating.

The coming election will not be decided because of political policy. It
will not be decided in a debate over free markets versus fair markets; tax
cuts or no tax cuts, Patriot Act or no Patriot Act; war with Syria or no
war. None of these issues will determine the election because the
candidates are all for free markets, tax cuts, domestic security and a
strong global military presence. The election will be determined by the
candidate who can embody the deeply felt, often unarticulated religious
yearnings of the populace. Yearnings such as "who will save us,
secure us, lead us??? who will connect us with a power greater than the
power of others?" Bush speaks this language. Democrats are stuck in
political nuance. Or, in other words, Democrats cannot speak the language
of Martin Luther King who understood that social transformation requires a
transcendent authority.

The problem comes down to this: Democrats, liberals, and social
progressives have simply not grasped how afraid, insecure and how deeply
in despair the populace is. They keep speaking as if objective analysis
and idealistic vision can win the day. What Bush and Rove, Rumsfeld,
Cheney, Wolfowitz and Pearls, Abrams and Bolton, DeLay and Rice etc, have
clearly understood is that truth is subjectivity. Unfortunately, the inner
person of America today is a hollowed out consumer who lacks the will
power, stamina and imagination to do anything more than be overwhelmed.
Therefore, a politics of crisis, a politics of fear will keep us locked
into a state of conformity.

On the "civic side" of things America is being inundated with a
rhetoric of insecurity. Most of Bush's State of the Union was taken up
with war themes reminding us all of the horrible new world we live in post
9/11. We know that further increases in the military and police budgets
are on the way; we know that the Patriot Act is going to be extended and
strengthened; we know that Homeland Security will continue to be a growth
industry. We know that this administration wants to break down the wall
between church and state with faith-based initiatives. The world is in
chaos and the Bush-men will fix it bringing us peace, prosperity, purity
and purpose.

On the religion side of things apocalyptic theology is booming. This is
also a worldview of crisis and insecurity. It is a theology rooted in the
Holiness/Holy War traditions and it dominates the spirituality of this
current administration. More to the point, this is the dominant theology
of the mass media expression of Christian faith. It is a theology of
despair that has given up on the possibilities of redemption.

One of the most popular fiction series making the rounds these days is the
LEFT BEHIND series written by Tim LaHaye & Jerry Jenkins. Multiple
millions of people are reading these books which fictionalize the end of
life as we know it. It used to be that the Church could control people
through the fear of eternal damnation. Today it is through fear of the
future. The theology is basically this: The Bible is a code book that when
rightly interpreted reveals that we are living at the end of history.
History is scripted and is about to come to a catastrophic conclusion. The
only hope is to accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior so that you
can be "saved" from the future apocalypse. God will "snatch
you up" (Rapture) right before a seven year series of horrible events
that will see the rise of Antichrist and the rebuilding of the Jewish
temple. There will be world war with most of humanity dying. At that point
Jesus will return to restore law and order. This theology of despair
"fits" our current culture of powerlessness and fear. From SARS
to weapons of mass destruction to the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli
conflict, to ecological collapse, the whole world seems to be on a
"no exit" slide into an end times abyss. The theology of despair
is very seductive. It is shaping the spirituality of Christians which
provides a strong core from which Bush draws political strength.

And it has, at least, five political implications that affect each one of
us here today. FIRST: Israel is to be exalted and defended no matter what
they do to the Palestinian people. They are God's chosen people and must
reside in their Biblically anointed Land for the "end time
clock" to tick to its final minute. Israel has a Biblical mandate to
conquer and control all of the land from the Nile River to the Euphrates.
Behind the politics of oil lie the religious passion to fulfill God's
will: Syria must fall.

Secondly: institutions like the United Nations are not to be trusted
because they are tools of the Antichrist. The Antichrist is thought of
(not as a spirituality or ideology) but as an personal embodiment of evil.
The Antichrist will be a living person who will come to power at the end
of history and proclaim himself to be god on earth. The theory has it that
his power will be generated from within a coalition of nations. Thus .
America, as God's chosen nation, will need to go it alone so as not to be
duped by Antichrist. Our destiny is to take the gospel to all the nations:
a benevolent gospel of therapeutic salvation for all.

Thirdly: since the world is passing away the environment is not of great
importance. There is no need to worry about issues of sustainability
because the world is in its final countdown. Part of the unconcern towards
global warming and other ecological crisis is the religious belief that we
aren't going to be around in 100 years. We're in the end times now . every
moment is merely preparation for eternity. Whether Bush himself believes
this or not is irrelevant. This is the religious worldview of those who
exalt him and the voter-bloc to which he plays. For Bush to act for
sustainability would require a major shift in his religious narrative. .
As an aside this past summer the National Park Service was instructed to
approve the display of religious symbols and Bible verses, as well as the
sale of creationist books at the Grand Canyon National Park. In December
2003 the Park Service was ordered to develop a "more balanced"
version of an 8 minute video shown at the Lincoln Memorial Visitor Center.
Conservative Christians wanted the removal of footage of gay rights, pro
choice and anti-war demonstrations replacing it with footage of Christian
rallies and pro-war demonstrations.

Fourth: the trust that Jesus died for "my sins" is far more
important than the teachings of Jesus. This fosters a domesticated
therapeutic religious expression that insists that "jesus in my
heart" is more important than my lifestyle. It's like the Mafia don
who could order his enemies killed while he himself was celebrating the
baptism of his nephew. There is a disconnect between one's inner
experience of God's loving grace and embodying that experience outwardly
through one's politics. This leads to a discounting of following Jesus in
a lifestyle of nonviolence, economic justice and compassion. Again as an
aside . while Governor of Texas Mr. Bush was interviewed by Talk Magazine
concerning the impending execution of fellow Christian Karla Faye Tucker.
Bush imitated Tucker's appeal for him to spare her life . pursing his
lips, squinting his eyes, and in a squeaky voice saying, "please
don't kill me".

Fifth: a leader who loves Jesus is to be followed as God's man for the
hour. The Christian leader is God's shepherd over the American flock. As
stated before Bush sees himself as a Messiah figure (annointed by God for
a special redemptive purpose). When he decided on running for the
Presidency he called a group of evangelical Pastors together announcing to
them "I have heard the call" and then receiving from them the
"laying on of hands" which corresponds to divine ordination for
the task ahead. On September 14, 2001 he stated: "our responsibility
before history is already clear: to answer these attacks and rid the world
of evil". He then launched the crusade Operation Infinite Freedom
against Afghanistan. Yet other messainic statements from Bush:

"History has called America to action. . The great hope of our time,
and the great hope of every time, now depends on us." ..

"We must also remember our calling as a blessed nation to make the
world better . and confound the designs of evil men."

"Our nation has been chosen by God and commissioned by history, to be
a model of justice before the world."

*** According to Vice-President Cheney: America "has the duty to act
with force to construct a world in the image of the United
States."

In return for this messianic leadership evangelical Christians have
returned an annointing of prayer. During the Afghanistan crusade thousands
of "Presidential Circles of Prayer" and "Wheels of
Prayer" were organized on the Internet, running 24 hours a day.

Bless them and their families for the altruistic actions they are
performing

for us in our time of need. This I ask in the name of Jesus, our Lord and
Savior. Amen

This prayer was so popular and was hit so often that the website crashed
within days.

Pastor Charles Stanley distributed among Marines as they entered into
combat thousands of pamphlets entitled "Duty of a Christian in Time
of War". With the pamphlet went a card instructing them to sign and
send directly to Mr. Bush. The card says: "I have committed to pray
for you, your family and your Administration." Specific prayers for
the President were included for each day.

CONCLUSION:

The point I'm trying to make is that we are not dealing simply with
politics when it comes to the Bush administration. The progressive left,
which often pays little attention to Christianity, will be making a huge
mistake if they overlook the religious ideology at the core of Mr. Bush
personally and the movement he represents. And we are talking about a
"movement" (a movement of 'the people' not just the elites). We
are seeing today the emergence of a "fascist movement". It is
bankrolled and organized by Corporations, articulated through the ideology
of neo-conservativism. but is fueled by the right-wing church drawing upon
Holiness/Holy War Biblical narratives.

When Dave Korten (author of When Corporations Rule the World) says that we
need a "new story"; he is talking about needing a transcendent
authority in which we root our political culture. Human beings cannot live
in societal form without a sacred narrative. Neither anarchy nor atheism
can construct a house that will hold our future. The Republicans know this
well. But the Democrats seem clueless.

In Biblical language the Republicans have become Pharaoh whose house is
strong because of economic exploitation of the populace and military
repression of the people. The populace is being asked to make bricks
without straw. We are seeking a "savior" . a Moses who can rally
us out of these mudpits towards the promise of a land flowing with milk
and honey. Unfortunately most Democrats are simply offering Pharaoh-lite:
they still will keep us in the mudpit making bricks.

What we need is a movement of spiritual justice. We need the language of
those who can wed America's civil religion with Biblical prophetic
narrative. We need to expand that language so that it can include the
language and stories that are emerging from the antiwar, fair trade and
human rights movements. Together this language can form a unique new
narrative that has the power to inspire imagination and courage. A
language that call forth a new coalition powerful enough to leave behind
the mudpit and to enter the promise of a new beginning. A coalition that
understands that "we are the ones we are looking for". Indeed,
the new narrative will proclaim "God with us" not "God
above us".